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RIP Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Tommy_Dreamer, Oct 8, 2012.

  1. Meatie Pie

    Meatie Pie Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    When I think of Karras, I think of him singing that awful fight song on MNF that Lou Holtz "wrote" when he took the Jets job.
     
  2. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    I'm guessing the fact he was suspended for a season due to alleged ties to gambling might play a role. Though it didn't keep Paul Hornung out.
     
  3. Tommy_Dreamer

    Tommy_Dreamer Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    When I posted this I was surprised to find out he wasn't already in the HOF. Very sad.
     
  4. Knighthawk

    Knighthawk Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    He's still hanging in, even after Darren Rovell jumped the gun and posted an "RIP" message last week. Set off a rant from BIGSPORTSWRITER.
     
  5. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    Very sad. I dont know why but I was stunned to learn he was 77.
     
  6. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    Someone mentioned his autobiography. Read it in junior high, what a fantastic book. Told a great story about how he met his first wife when she walked into one his classes as a nude model.
     
  7. UPChip

    UPChip Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    I know he's not dead yet, but I'm going to burn this joke now.

    I imagine that day at the Pearly Gates will go like this: "...never mind that shit! Here comes Mongo!"
     
  8. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    IF the autobiography you're talking about is "Even Big Guys Cry," I read it too a long long time ago, and it was fun, but huge portions of it seemed to be taken almost whole-cloth from Plimpton's "Mad Ducks and Bears" (1972), of which about half the book was a loosely-organized semi-autobiography by Karras "as told to" Plimpton.

    In "MDAB," the nude-model story is pitched a little differently:

    Karras, as a football jock at Iowa, was assigned to an art class presumably to boost up his GPA (which according to Karras's own account needed plenty of help). At the beginning of the semester, as students were walking into hthe room, the teacher said, "This is Beginning Sculpture 101" and gave Karras a box full of clay.

    Karras said, "What do I do a sculpture of?" and the instructor said, "Oh, you're the football player. I don't care, just turn in some kind of sculpture at the end of the semester and you get a C."

    Karras, being a diligent student, punched at the clay a bit and rolled it into a roughly round shape. Karras then said to the instructor, "Hey, I'm thirsty," so the instructor said "fine, do whatever you want, as long as you turn in one sculpture by the end of the semester you get a C," and so Karras walked out the door to the corner drugstore where he drank Cokes and played records on the jukebox for an hour or so until the class was over.

    This went on for most of the semester until one day he ran out of money so he went back to the classroom early, took out his box of clay and started punching around with the round lump, which he decided, was beginning to look like a frog.

    Just as soon as he starts working on the "frog" an attractive blonde comes walking in wearing a long coat. She hangs the coat on the coat-rack and sits down on a stool. Buck-ass naked. She was the life model for the semester.

    "No more Cokes for me down at the corner drugstore, no sir!!!" said Karras. The story wraps up by saying Karras showed up for class bright and early every day from then on and by the end of the semester got a B+ for his "frog," which he painted green and gave to his father.

    The MDAB version doesn't mention the model turned out to be his wife. Of course, he was still married to her in 1972, and by 1978 I believe they had split up.


    Karras would actually be a pretty fun guy for a movie to be made about at some point.
     
  9. Tommy_Dreamer

    Tommy_Dreamer Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    Great story, Junkie.
     
  10. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    Starman,

    Even Big Guys Cry is the one I was referring to. Did not know about the other book.

    And that's a hell of a story, Junkie.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    Yeah. The kid's name was given as "Puffer" in the original version. It sounded like a fake made-up name, so nobody thought anything about it -- who figured that was his real name?

    Then years later I saw a reprinted/reissued version and the kid's name was changed to "Pinkus" or some other nondescript substitute.

    Wait -- your dad was "MISTAH STUMP" !?!?!?!? :eek: :eek: :eek:


    I got a big laugh out of the passage about the Pee Wee football games and Karras discussing his punting strategy: "I never punt. These people can kick the ball about nine yards. Only the very suave coaches punt. The Viking coach punts. The Viking coach is very suave." (The Peewee 'Viking' coach, not Bud Grant,)


    EDIT:
     
  12. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Re: Report: Lions Great/Actor Alex Karras Close to Death

    He died:

    http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/ex-nfl-star-actor-alex-karras-dies/?hpt=us_t2

    BTW, had no idea that Susan Clark was his wife in real life ...
     
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